82 His Friends (15)

'Once you taste something nice, it is nigh impossible to resist it again,' Iris thought while pondering over her current predicament. The cherry had been just at the right level of ripeness, juicy and sweet, but not overly so, and now she wanted another one. However, Gale sat by them like a dragon hoarding a treasure.

His disappointment at being unable to catch her was short-lived, and he soon started tempting her with another berry. He waved it slowly in front of himself, making sure she could see it well. Involuntarily, her eyes followed his every move.

Was it worth it to take it from him? Nah, not in a million years. But that wasn't her sole option, now was it?

Slowly, she stood up and went to hide behind the sofa. Gale noticed her actions and a knowing grin came onto his face, but he didn't change his actions. The cherry kept moving right and left, without any noticeable lull in action.

Iris dashed from behind the sofa to behind the shoes. They were quite high in her current form, so it was easy to hide behind them when she lowered herself to the ground. With her stomach against the floor, she peeked out to see what Gale was doing.

He was still pretending like he didn't notice anything, waving the cherry like everything was as usual.

An urge to laugh threatened to overpower Iris, but she pushed it back with an immense effort. This was a secret mission! How would she look if she burst out laughing in the middle of it?

When Gale's hand came toward her, she pounced at her target. The poor man, thinking she came for the cherry he held, moved to apprehend her, but she was nowhere to be seen. While he reoriented himself, she stole a mouthful of cherries from the box and got away to eat them in peace on the other side of the room.

"That's unfair!" Gale instantly shouted out, rushing to his feet. He went after her, his large feet covering the distance of four times her length. The chase wasn't fair as usual, but Iris was no longer a beginner.

She evaded him while using the sofa as the great divider. When he couldn't see her, she placed the cherries on the ground, keeping only one to eat until he rushed over. This came sooner rather than later, and she led him on a merry chase around the room until using the sofa again.

At this time, she grabbed another cherry and ate it while they were on a momentary standstill on the different sides. This repeated two more times before Iris ended up on the opposite side during their pause. At this moment, Gale decided he'd had enough of being led by the nose and decided to jump over the sofa.

To do so, he needed to get closer to the sofa, and his foot landed on something squishy. "Ahh!" he screamed out in surprise, jumping up in place with the now wet right foot raised.

When Iris ran over to see what happened, she wasn't certain what to do first: cry for the squashed cherries, or laugh at the grown up man jumping on one foot while holding onto the other. Both actions seemed equally relevant.

As she thought about that, she remembered the cherries and swiftly grabbed the small box by the top. It wasn't heavy, and she quickly dragged it away into the bathroom where she hid it under the bath. This wasn't the greatest hiding place, but it was going to suffice until Gale left.

Right after, she left the room and moved away to not give away anything. But she was trying too hard. Gale was too busy glaring at his foot at the moment. By then, he had figured out that sitting down on the sofa was a smarter plan than jumping around and was poking at the dark stain on his right foot.

The moment he saw Iris, his glare moved over to her. "It's your fault!" he said in a childish manner, even pointing a finger at her. "It's all your doing!"

Iris laughed, loudly. Was he really expecting her to apologize? He stepped on her precious cherries! If it was anyone's fault, it was his own for being careless.

"I'm gonna show you now! No more— Ah! Where are they? I'm certain I left them here!" he shouted out, rushing off the sofa and looking all around the room wide-eyed. His eyes soon landed on her, who was licking her lips clean. "You stole them! Unbelievable! You actually stole them!"

While he kept saying that loudly, the bedroom door opened and a dark shadow walked out. Gale jumped to his feet and tried to explain himself, but there was no compromising with the person ready to silence him for all eternity.

"Fine, fine! I'll be leaving! Ungrateful animal. I brought it berries from a family friend that had just picked and deboned them, yet all I got was a chase around the room. So evil… I didn't even get to touch its fluffy fur…" he muttered as he made his way out, sending unfriendly glances toward Iris who sat by the sofa with a wide grin.

It was soon extinguished, though, since Kyro turned his eyes like the frozen abyss at her. "And what's your excuse?" he asked in a grave voice that promised extreme retribution.

The first thought that came to her was to run, but then she remembered something better. She dived for the bathroom and dragged out the box of cherries she placed by his feet. After that, she took a couple steps back and sat down before him while wagging her tail.

"You…" He bent down and picked the box, then tasted one berry. "You cheated it off him?" She nodded and increased the speed at which her tail was wagging.

He popped another cherry into his mouth, then smiled and bent down to pet her head. "Good girl."

Smiling, Iris cooed, and Kyro gave her another cherry. She ate it with pleasure while he put the box into the refrigerator, then they went together into his bedroom to sleep. He was tired from the sleepless night, and she was too lazy to think of anything to do. Thus, they both fell asleep in no time, satisfied with having swindled Gale so they wouldn't need to share with him the sweet treat he had brought.